Land Use Scenario Simulation and Ecosystem Service Management for Different Regional Development Models of the Beibu Gulf Area, China

Land use change is an important way for human activities to affect ecosystems. Based on the land use demands and policies, the simulation of future land use changes under different scenarios can test the rationality of socio-economic and policy-oriented land use changes. In this study, we set three scenarios of regular growth, ecological protection, and ecotourism development in 2030 for the Beibu Gulf area, China. We simulated the spatial distribution and evolution characteristics of the future landscape pattern using the Scenario Generator Rule Based Module of InVEST. Meanwhile, the ecosystem service value (ESV) was estimated by the improved unit area value equivalent method to reveal the trend of ESVs under different regional development models. The results indicated that the land use changes in the Beibu Gulf during 1999–2014 showed significant spatial heterogeneity. The farmland was mainly distributed in Beihai, the forestland was located in Fangchenggang, while the orchard was concentrated on Qinzhou. Due to economic construction and urban expansion, construction land and aquaculture land were gradually growing, while farmland and mud flat continued to decrease. Between 2014 and 2030, the total ESV decreased in the regular growth scenario and gradually increased in the ecological protection scenario and ecotourism development scenario. In addition, by comparing the three scenarios, the ecotourism development scenario is a more reasonable model for Guangxi Beibu Gulf area, which realized the trade-off between tourism development and resource conservation. Therefore, regional planners should not only consider maximizing ESVs when planning for ecosystem services, but also strive to maintain a reasonable structure of ecosystem services. Some suggestions were provided in this paper at the macro level and the local development model level respectively, which offered some references for the rational allocation of land resources, ecological environmental protection and ecotourism development in the coastal area of Beibu Gulf.

Download Full-text

Towards Ecological-Economic Integrity in the Jing-Jin-Ji Regional Development in China

Water ◽

10.3390/w10111653 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (11) ◽

pp. 1653 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Suxiao Li ◽

Hong Yang ◽

Junguo Liu ◽

Guangchun Lei

Keyword(s):

Economic Growth ◽

Land Use ◽

Regional Development ◽

Ecosystem Service ◽

Water Conservation ◽

Land Use Changes ◽

Ecological Efficiency ◽

Ecological Economic ◽

Ecological Resources ◽

Development Levels

In China, the regional development policy has been shifting from solely economic orientation to ecologically sound economic growth. Using the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (Jing-Jin-Ji) region as a case study, we evaluated the temporal variations in ecosystem service values (ESVs) associated with land use changes from 1990 to 2015. We analyzed the dynamic relations between ESVs and the economy (indicated by the gross domestic product, GDP) by introducing the elasticity indicator (EI), which reflects the growth synchronism between the two, and the ecosystem service load (ESL), which reflects the ecological efficiency of economic growth. The results showed that the land use changes in Jing-Jin-Ji have been characterized by decreases in water areas, cropland, and grassland and increases in woodland and built-up areas. The ESVs of woodland and water areas contributed to 80% of the total ESV of the region, and the total ESV increased by 13.87% as a result of an area increase in woodland (26.87%). The average EI of Jing-Jin-Ji improved from 0.028 to 0.293 over the study period, indicating that the growth of ESVs was being balanced with the growth in the GDP. The average ESL decreased by 1.24, suggesting a significant improvement in ecological efficiency per unit GDP. Within the Jing-Jin-Ji region, large disparities in EI and ESL were shown to exist among Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei owing to their differences in ecological resources, GDP compositions, and development levels. The study highlights the needs to reinforce woodland and water conservation, adjust economic structures, and balance the intraregional development to achieve the ecological-economic integrity of the region.

Download Full-text

Impact of county-scale land use change on the value of ecosystem services: A case study in Nanping, Fujian, China

E3S Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/e3sconf/202124801027 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 248 ◽

pp. 01027

Author(s):

LiLi Zhao

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Ecosystem Service ◽

Land Use Changes ◽

Satellite Image ◽

Image Interpretation ◽

Land Use Classification ◽

Land Use Types ◽

New Type ◽

The Impact

With the changing behavior of land use by explosive population growth, the ecological environment is constantly disturbed and destroyed by humans, and the value of ecosystem services is obviously degraded. After the introduction of the national new-type urbanization plan, counties have become the key areas to promote new-type urbanization, and county land use is exceptionally active. Therefore, it is especially urgent to grasp the impact of county land use changes on ecosystem service values. Based on remote sensing satellite image interpretation to obtain county land use classification data, the changes of ecosystem service values in County between 1995 and 2015 were thoroughly explored. The research results show that the total value of ecosystem services has increased in most regions during the 20 years, among which, the service value of Shunchang County has increased most significantly. In terms of the service values of different land use types in each region, woodland is the main contributor to ecological services in different regions. From different time periods, Jian’ou City had the highest value of woodland ecosystem services in 1995 and 2015. In contrast, Songxi County had a lower value of services for each ecosystem type during 20 years.

Download Full-text

Variations in ecosystem service value in response to land use changes in the upper water source of Beijing and Tianjin-take Chengde as example

World Journal of Engineering ◽

10.1260/1708-5284.11.4.349 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 11 (4) ◽

pp. 349-356 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Lei Jiang ◽

Chongyang Li ◽

Yan Chen

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Ecosystem Service ◽

Land Use Changes ◽

Water Source ◽

Ecosystem Service Value ◽

Service Value ◽

Ecosystem Services Value ◽

Ecological Changes ◽

Conservation Projects

Land use changes significantly impacts ecosystem services and functions. The estimation of ecosystem services value is conducive to clarifying the ecological changes in response to LULC changes due to urbanization. Chengde was the upper water source of Beijing and Tianjin, the ecosystem is very fragile. After a series of ecology conservation projects like "returning cropland to forestry", the ecosystem service value increased from 5100.17 x 107 Yuan in 1990 to 5104.08 x 107 Yuan in 2008 respectively, with the average increase of 2.3 x 106 Yuan per year. It is indicated that ecosystem service value has the potential to inform policy decisions by emphasizing the benefits of sustainable ecosystem management. So plans on land use management should be made to maintain a balance between urbanization and ecosystem health.

Download Full-text

Effect of Land Use Change on Ecosystem Service Value in Dujiangyan City

E3S Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/e3sconf/202016502024 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 165 ◽

pp. 02024

Author(s):

Min Liu ◽

Shimin Wen ◽

Chuanjiang Zhang

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Land Use Change ◽

Ecosystem Service ◽

Land Use Changes ◽

Value Assessment ◽

Ecosystem Service Value ◽

Construction Land ◽

Service Value ◽

The Impact

In order to evaluate the impact of land use change on ecosystem service value in Dujiangyan City, through equivalent factor method, qualitative and quantitative analysis is carried out on the dynamic change of land use change and its caused ecosystem service value in Dujiangyan City from 2010 to 2016. The results show that: (1) Dujiangyan city land use changes a large extent, with the extension of construction land expansion as the main increase part, and at the cost of the reduction of arable land and grassland area. (2) Over the past 7 years, the total value of ecosystem services in Dujiangyan city followed a law of first rising and then falling, showing an overall rising trend, with a total increase of 19.2244 million yuan. (3) The accuracy of the ecological value coefficient of woodland and grassland will greatly affect the value assessment of ecosystem services in Dujiangyan city. (4) From the relationship between land use type and ecosystem service value, cultivated land and construction land are negatively correlated with ecosystem service value, on the contrary, forest land, grassland, water area and construction land are positively correlated with ecosystem service value. In general, the land use of Dujiangyan City did not cause obvious damage to the ecological environment, but also cannot ignore the impact of land use changes on the environment in the process of economic development. It is necessary to control the growth of construction land area, promote the conservation and rational development of Eco-tourism area in Dujiangyan City, maintain the stability of ecosystem services in Dujiangyan City, and realize the strategy of sustainable development of Social-Economic-Ecological benefits.

Download Full-text

Study on Land Use/Cover Change and Ecosystem Services in Harbin, China

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12156076 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (15) ◽

pp. 6076

Author(s):

Dao Riao ◽

Xiaomeng Zhu ◽

Zhijun Tong ◽

Jiquan Zhang ◽

Aoyang Wang

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Ecosystem Service ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Land Use Changes ◽

Arable Land ◽

Social Economy ◽

Land Resources ◽

The Social ◽

Coordination Degree

Land use/cover change (LUCC) and ecosystem service functions are current hot topics in global research on environmental change. A comprehensive analysis and understanding of the land use changes and ecosystem services, and the equilibrium state of the interaction between the natural environment and the social economy is crucial for the sustainable utilization of land resources. We used remote sensing image to research the LUCC, ecosystem service value (ESV), and ecological economic harmony (EEH) in eight main urban areas of Harbin in China from 1990 to 2015. The results show that, in the past 25 years, arable land—which is a part of ecological land—is the main source of construction land for urbanization, whereas the other ecological land is the main source of conversion to arable land. There is no significant change in the value ratio of ESV, however, it is also inclined to the southeast of the study area in spaces like the barycenter of LUCC. The EEH degree has risen from the potential crisis area to the medium coordination degree, and then dropped to the low coordination degree. This shows that although there has been limited change of LUCC, ESV, and EEH in eight main urban areas of Harbin in 25 years, there is a contradiction between the allocation of ecological land and non-ecological land.

Download Full-text

Spatial analyses of threats to ecosystem service hotspots in Greater Durban, South Africa

PeerJ ◽

10.7717/peerj.5723 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 6 ◽

pp. e5723 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Rashieda Davids ◽

Mathieu Rouget ◽

Richard Boon ◽

Debra Roberts

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Land Use ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Land Use Change ◽

Ecosystem Service ◽

Local Development ◽

Well Being ◽

Urban Land Use ◽

Sand Mining ◽

The City

Background Population growth at all scales and rapid rates of urbanization, particularly in the global South, are placing increasing pressure on ecosystems and their ability to provide services essential for human well-being. The spatial consideration of threats to ecosystem services related to changes in land use is necessary in order to avoid undue impacts on society due to the loss or reduced supply of ecosystem services. This study assesses the potential threats of land use change from strategic and local development proposals to ecosystem services in the city of Durban. Methods We analysed the spatial relationship between five categories of ecosystem service hotspots (carbon storage, water yield, sediment retention, nutrient retention and flood attenuation) and urban land use change related to selected strategic planning proposals, development proposals and sand-mining applications in Durban, South Africa (eThekwini Municipality) with a view to determining the consequences for progress towards a more sustainable development path in the city. We identified the potential levels of threat related to habitat destruction or transformation for the five categories of ecosystem services and a subset of 13 ecosystem service hotspots, using GIS spatial analysis tools. Results The results show that on average, should Durban’s strategic development plans be realised, approximately 42% loss of ecosystem service hotspots is expected in the two municipal town-planning regions assessed. With respect to development applications between 2009 and 2012, approximately 36% of all environmental impact assessments and 84% of sand mining applications occurred within ecosystem service hotspots within Durban. Discussion The findings highlight the tension between short-term development pressures and longer-term sustainability goals and confirm that current planning and development proposals pose a threat to ecosystems and their ability to deliver services that support human well-being in Durban. We suggest practical solutions to include ecosystem services into local government decision-making.

Download Full-text

Assessing and Predicting the Impact of Multi-Scenario Land Use Changes on the Ecosystem Service Value: A Case Study in the Upstream of Xiong’an New Area, China

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13020704 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (2) ◽

pp. 704

Author(s):

Zhiyin Wang ◽

Jiansheng Cao

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Ecosystem Service ◽

Land Use Changes ◽

Coupling Model ◽

Ecosystem Service Value ◽

Construction Land ◽

Service Value ◽

Surrounding Areas ◽

The Impact

The evaluation of ecosystem service value has become the basis of ecological protection, ecological regionalization, and ecological compensations. Land use changes have taken place due to several natural and anthropogenic reasons, significantly influencing the ecosystem services value (ESV). In this study, we used an interactive coupling model that simulates future land use changes and the equivalent coefficient table method to predict and evaluate the ecosystem service value in the upstream of Xiong’an New Area in 2035, and we quantitatively calculated the impact of land use changes on the ecosystem service value under four future scenarios. The results indicate that from 2015 to 2035, the ecosystem service value in the production scenario and life scenario decreased significantly by CNY 1635.39 million and 561.95 million, respectively, and the areas where the ESV decreased mainly appeared in river banks and surrounding areas of towns. The conversion of forest land to cultivated land and the conversion of grassland to construction land are the main reasons for the reduction of the ecosystem service value in the production scenario and life scenario, respectively. The ecosystem service value in the ecological scenario increased significantly by CNY 2550.59 million, and the conversion of grassland to waters is the main reason for the increase in ecosystem service value, with a contribution rate of 73.89%. Moreover, due to the trade-off between ecosystem services, the overall change of ecosystem service value in the current scenario is not obvious. In conclusion, strictly controlling the scale of construction land, strengthening the management and protection of water resources, and expanding the afforestation scale may improve the ecosystem service value of the upstream Xiong’an New Area in the future.

Download Full-text

Ecosystem Services Changes on Farmland in Response to Urbanization in the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area of China

Land ◽

10.3390/land10050501 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (5) ◽

pp. 501

Author(s):

Xuege Wang ◽

Fengqin Yan ◽

Yinwei Zeng ◽

Ming Chen ◽

Bin He ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Hong Kong ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Ecosystem Service ◽

Food Production ◽

Great Loss ◽

The Past ◽

Bay Area ◽

Farmland Loss ◽

The World

Extensive urbanization around the world has caused a great loss of farmland, which significantly impacts the ecosystem services provided by farmland. This study investigated the farmland loss due to urbanization in the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) of China from 1980 to 2018 based on multiperiod datasets from the Land Use and Land Cover of China databases. Then, we calculated ecosystem service values (ESVs) of farmland using valuation methods to estimate the ecosystem service variations caused by urbanization in the study area. The results showed that 3711.3 km2 of farmland disappeared because of urbanization, and paddy fields suffered much higher losses than dry farmland. Most of the farmland was converted to urban residential land from 1980 to 2018. In the past 38 years, the ESV of farmland decreased by 5036.7 million yuan due to urbanization, with the highest loss of 2177.5 million yuan from 2000–2010. The hydrological regulation, food production and gas regulation of farmland decreased the most due to urbanization. The top five cities that had the largest total ESV loss of farmland caused by urbanization were Guangzhou, Dongguan, Foshan, Shenzhen and Huizhou. This study revealed that urbanization has increasingly become the dominant reason for farmland loss in the GBA. Our study suggests that governments should increase the construction of ecological cities and attractive countryside to protect farmland and improve the regional ESV.

Download Full-text

Qualifying Land Use and Land Cover Dynamics and Their Impacts on Ecosystem Service in Central Himalaya Transboundary Landscape Based on Google Earth Engine

Land ◽

10.3390/land10020173 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 173

Author(s):

Changjun Gu ◽

Yili Zhang ◽

Linshan Liu ◽

Lanhui Li ◽

Shicheng Li ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Land Cover ◽

Ecosystem Service ◽

Forest Cover ◽

Google Earth ◽

Forest Cover Change ◽

Sacred Landscape ◽

Lulc Changes ◽

Google Earth Engine

Land use and land cover (LULC) changes are regarded as one of the key drivers of ecosystem services degradation, especially in mountain regions where they may provide various ecosystem services to local livelihoods and surrounding areas. Additionally, ecosystems and habitats extend across political boundaries, causing more difficulties for ecosystem conservation. LULC in the Kailash Sacred Landscape (KSL) has undergone obvious changes over the past four decades; however, the spatiotemporal changes of the LULC across the whole of the KSL are still unclear, as well as the effects of LULC changes on ecosystem service values (ESVs). Thus, in this study we analyzed LULC changes across the whole of the KSL between 2000 and 2015 using Google Earth Engine (GEE) and quantified their impacts on ESVs. The greatest loss in LULC was found in forest cover, which decreased from 5443.20 km2 in 2000 to 5003.37 km2 in 2015 and which mainly occurred in KSL-Nepal. Meanwhile, the largest growth was observed in grassland (increased by 548.46 km2), followed by cropland (increased by 346.90 km2), both of which mainly occurred in KSL-Nepal. Further analysis showed that the expansions of cropland were the major drivers of the forest cover change in the KSL. Furthermore, the conversion of cropland to shrub land indicated that farmland abandonment existed in the KSL during the study period. The observed forest degradation directly influenced the ESV changes in the KSL. The total ESVs in the KSL decreased from 36.53 × 108 USD y−1 in 2000 to 35.35 × 108 USD y−1 in 2015. Meanwhile, the ESVs of the forestry areas decreased by 1.34 × 108 USD y−1. This shows that the decrease of ESVs in forestry was the primary cause to the loss of total ESVs and also of the high elasticity. Our findings show that even small changes to the LULC, especially in forestry areas, are noteworthy as they could induce a strong ESV response.

Download Full-text

The Integrated Economic-Environmental Modeling (IEEM) Platform: IEEM Platform Technical Guides: User Guide for the IEEM-enhanced Land Use Land Cover Change Model Dyna-CLUE

10.18235/0003625 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Peter H. Verburg ◽

Žiga Malek ◽

Sean P. Goodwin ◽

Cecilia Zagaria

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Land Use Change ◽

Land Use Changes ◽

Environmental Modeling ◽

Modeling Framework ◽

Regional Modelling ◽

Model Application ◽

Climatic Regions ◽

Single Region

The Conversion of Land Use and its Effects modeling framework (CLUE) was developed to simulate land use change using empirically quantified relations between land use and its driving factors in combination with dynamic modeling of competition between land use types. Being one of the most widely used spatial land use models, CLUE has been applied all over the world on different scales. In this document, we demonstrate how the model can be used to develop a multi-regional application. This means, that instead of developing numerous individual models, the user only prepares one CLUE model application, which then allocates land use change across different regions. This facilitates integration with the Integrated Economic-Environmental Modeling (IEEM) Platform for subnational assessments and increases the efficiency of the IEEM and Ecosystem Services Modeling (IEEMESM) workflow. Multi-regional modelling is particularly useful in larger and diverse countries, where we can expect different spatial distributions in land use changes in different regions: regions of different levels of achieved socio-economic development, regions with different topographies (flat vs. mountainous), or different climatic regions (dry vs humid) within a same country. Accounting for such regional differences also facilitates developing ecosystem services models that consider region specific biophysical characteristics. This manual, and the data that is provided with it, demonstrates multi-regional land use change modeling using the country of Colombia as an example. The user will learn how to prepare the data for the model application, and how the multi-regional run differs from a single-region simulation.

Download Full-text